Neverwhere

I have never been much of a fantasy fan however, when I chanced upon this book by Neil Gaiman, I fell absolutely in love with it.

It is a story about this average Londoner corporate slave, Richard Mayhew, who encounters an injured girl named Door on the street one night. Despite his girlfriend’s protests he decides to help her, but what he doesn’t know is that she actually is from London Below, a world living in parallel to ours where the familiar names of London such as Knightsbridge and Angel, Islington take on a new and sinister meaning. In helping her, Richard suddenly ceases to exist for regular people and becomes real only to the denizens of London Below. Share his bewilderedness and struggles as he tries to survive, find his way home and help Door survive as she is hunted down by cruelly cold hired assassins.

It’s a fantastic read and one I constantly re-read over and over again. I don’t know why I love it so much. Maybe it is the dark twist of the familiar London names, sights and sounds or maybe the thrilling thought that maybe, just maybe, there could really be a parallel world living right next to ours!

Whatever it is, if you have ever wondered why some of the London Underground has darkened carriages or why it always drones “Mind The Gap” in that boring monotone, this is one book you wouldn’t want to miss!